Iran: West has 'No Serious Proof' of Nuclear Bomb Drive
Iran said on Tuesday that the West had no serious proof it was developing nuclear weapons, ahead of a report by the U.N. atomic watchdog that is expected to provide new evidence against Tehran.
"There is no serious proof that Iran is going to create a nuclear warhead," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said, responding to a question about the IAEA report during a visit to neighboring Armenia.
"The West and the United States are exerting pressure on Iran without serious arguments and proof," he said.
The IAEA report expected this week has been raised as a potential trigger for an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Diplomats have said that the report will focus on the Islamic republic's alleged efforts to put fissile material in a warhead and on developing missiles.
Previous IAEA assessments have centered on Iran's efforts to produce fissile material -- uranium and plutonium -- which can be put to peaceful uses such as power generation or be used to make a nuclear bomb.
Salehi repeated Tehran's position that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes only.
"We have repeatedly stated that we are not going to create nuclear weapons," he said.
Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi also said on Tuesday that recent reports suggesting Israel is considering attacking Iran are just "media clamor.”
"We have repeatedly said that our country's defensive capability, whether at sea, by missile, or underwater, is very high and up-to-date and we have the might to fend off any threats," the ISNA news agency quoted Vahidi as saying.
But the White House said Monday that it expected the U.N. nuclear watchdog to echo its concerns, and as is customary refused to rule out the use of military force.
Iran has so far refused to freeze its uranium enrichment activities despite several U.N. sets of sanctions.
Source: Agence France Presse
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